Recently, the Schertz EDC and city staff took a tour of the Amazon distribution center located at 6000 Schertz Parkway here in Schertz, TX. This 1.3 million square feet building has over 1,000 employees who work various shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure their customers receive a smooth and prompt delivery time for their packages.
When walking in the building, staff was quick to notice a gigantic robotic arm, which can lift 700 pounds of pallets, 24 feet in the air. The creation of this machine was to prevent strenuous movement on the warehouse workers. Amazon is a big proponent for safety and works hard to limit damage to the human body. Every day-to-day movement an employee endures has been taken into consideration to find a more efficient, innovative and safe approach in combatting injuries that historically occur in warehouses. While having the robotic arm on board assisting in heavy lifting of pallets of goods doesn’t necessarily save time, it does prove to create a safer work environment for Amazon employees.
The Schertz team also witnessed one of Amazon’s first Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), made to navigate facilities independently, even while workers are moving around. Unlike the robotic arm, this robot would not need to remain in a restricted space, meaning workers could ask it to take items across the facility.
Another AMR, transports carts of inventory directly to workers for distributing and packaging for shipment. It follows magnetic tape on the floor to various distribution stations. Amazon said these types of robots take over workers’ tasks of moving various goods across facilities so they can focus on activities requiring their critical thinking skills and reduce physical strenuous work.
Amazon is one of four Fortune 500 companies located in Schertz and recently opened a second facility located on Schwab Road. Schertz offers numerous incentives and strives to bring major manufacturers, distributers and logistics facilities to the area. Because of our community’s pro-business mind set, it’s no wonder why Amazon continues to invest in Schertz, TX.